Maryland Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to Filing False Returns

A Maryland tax return preparer pleaded guilty today to preparing false tax returns.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from at least 2017 through 2022, Adis Smith, of Chula Vista, California, and formerly of Baltimore, prepared and filed false income tax returns for his clients in order to fraudulently lower the taxes they owed or to generate refunds from the IRS to which they were not entitled. Smith typically reported fictitious or inflated business losses and itemized deductions. To conceal his fraud from the IRS, Smith prepared and filed each client’s tax return as a “ghost preparer,” reporting it had been self-prepared by the client rather than by Smith. In total, Smith prepared over 1,000 false tax returns and caused a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $4,729,311.

Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 2. He and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland made the announcement. 

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case. 

Trial Attorneys Matthew Cofer and Sarah Ranney of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney for the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.